The Middle East - Egypt: The place of much sand!

Hey again,

When you first arrive in Cairo you'll notice one thing and one thing only... the traffic! The reason this is the only thing you notice is because you spend your entire encounter with it trying not to die! Here are some friendly government initiatives that have been put in place to help control the unstoppable flood water that is Cairo's driving population:

• A drivers license is not really required though you may be asked to show one to a police officer. This is because you could easily buy a counterfeit license anywhere in Egypt thus making the use of them totally redundant, however a police officer may ask you for one so that upon failure to show it, he can hit you up for a bribe! Classic!

• At many busy intersections (many that already have traffic lights) the Egyptian government does something very odd... they provide a man in a uniform with gloves and a whistle to play a game of 'What's the time Mr Wolf?'. All Egyptian drivers must enjoy this game immensely as they all start to creep into the intersection as soon as the guy with the whistle turns his back, then all of a sudden he turns around and they all stop! I think the aim of the game is to try and sneak through the intersection while the lights are red and the guy with the whistle isn't looking... there must be a prize for the person who successfully does it the most because that's all they seem to do in Cairo!

• There are no lane markings anywhere on the roads, this makes it much easier for trucks and vans to fit into gaps that in any other country even a motorcycle would think twice about squeezing into.

• Vehicle registration is also another formality they don't bother with in Egypt, as I'm sure you could just bribe your way through the process anyway. This means there are some absolutely unimaginable contraptions driving around on the roads. Not that you'd ever want to spend too much money on your car, not when you are likely to have four or five minor collisions per day. And you certainly wouldn't bother washing it! Perhaps installing a giant rubber ring somewhat akin to a dodgem car would prove a better use of ones money.

• In most countries around the world holding the steering wheel at 10 and 2 is considered the safest way to drive. In Cairo you have one hand at 2 and the other hand on the horn! It's also acceptable to have one hand on the horn and the other hand flashing your headlights and one hand on the steering wheel... wait a minute, I'm not sure how... urgh my head hurts.

• The kerb on most streets in Egypt is about 1.5 feet high, I guess this is to prevent drivers from mistaking the pedestrian footpath for an unusually clear lane! It's not like pedestrians have right of way anyway!

After navigating our way through the traffic to our hotel, witnessing only one accident, we spent the afternoon relaxing and walking around down-town Cairo. The point of our first day was to swap tour leaders and meet the new people who would be joining us for the remaining two weeks of the tour. We had dinner together that night where I had stuffed pigeon, I'm not sure if it was any good as I couldn't find any meat on the damn thing!!

The next week of the tour was pretty much devoted to visiting many of the ancient Egyptian sites we are all so familiar with, all the way from Cairo down to Aswan and back up to Luxor:

• The Pyramids (Ancient Wonder) and Sphinx at Giza
• The Egyptian Museum
• Abu Simbel (requiring a police escorted convoy at 3:30am in the morning)
  
• Philae Temple
• Temple of Komombo (seen from the outside)
• The Temple of Karnak
• Colossus of Memnon
• The Valley of the Kings
• The Temple of Luxor (seen from the outside)
• Luxor Museum (containing the Luxor Cache)
  
• Hatchepsut's Mortuary Temple
• Ramsees III Mortuary Temple

Jeremy and Jo on the Pyramids

The Sphinx

Spices at the markets in Aswan.

Abu Simbel

Philae Temple

Hieroglyphics at Philae Temple.

Hatchepsut's Mortuary Temple

Amazing colour detail at Hatchepsut's Mortuary Temple.

Ramsees III Mortuary Temple.

The Temple of Karnak

We were luckily able to break the week up with a 2.5 day Felucca cruise up the Nile from Aswan to Komombo. Which was such a relaxing experience we didn't think we were going to be able to get off the boat when the time came. On our second evening on the Felucca we visited a small town named Durow, which is very close to the Nile. This was one of my favourite places in Egypt simply because the people there weren't used to seeing tourists and they weren't trying to scam us for money. The town has grown up around an old camel market where Sudanese camel traders stop on their way up to Cairo and beyond. We were lucky on the day we were there as a new herd of camels (they were actually dromedaries but for ease of understanding I'm calling them camels) had just arrived and was being processed. It's really quite amusing to watch the camels as they have all been "hobbled" to prevent them from moving too quickly. This involved strapping the bottom third of their leg (Camels have 2 knees) to the middle third using a leather belt! Then they just seem to run around as usual on three legs! not quite sure if it really does anything to slow them down though.

Our Felucca

Relaxing on the Felucca

The camel market at Durow.

The people in the town were really friendly as well, especially the kids who just wanted to meet us and play with us and pose for photos. They didn't even ask for a pen! (I'll explain later). Jo and I were invited to sit and have tea/coffee with some of the Sudanese camel traders, one of whom was missing an eye. We also had ourselves a glass of fresh sugar cane juice, they literally feed a 2 metre long stick into the machine and out comes a glass of cold sugar juice! it costs 1 Egyptian Pound (AUD $0.20). We even picked up a bit of camel meat to have with dinner that night as we were all keen to give it a try... tastes a bit like mutton, I think?

An Egyptian boy at the camel markets.

After enjoying all the famous ancient Egyptian sites, ticking off a few childhood dreams, sneaking a few photo's in places we weren't meant to take them, getting into an extra tomb we hadn't paid for (suckers) and being thoroughly sick of all the tourists and trash salesmen. We high-tailed it away from the Nile and headed for Alexandria!

Alexandria was quite a different place from the other parts of Egypt, as there are more young adults around due to the University and the 'Library of Alexandria' newly built to hold over 8 million books (currently only possessing around 500 000 books) the shelves look mighty bare!! But still an impressive building. We visited the catacombs which were quite cool but a little odd, they seemed more like a cult head quarters than a burial place for 300 people. Another reason to visit Alexandria is for the fabled 'Lighthouse of Alexandria', it was one of the 'Seven Ancient Wonders of the World' and the 5th ancient wonder that Jo and I have seen on our travels. They also do some of the best seafood in the world and for the best price as well!

Fishing boats at Alexandria

What remains of the Lighthouse at Alexandria

Sunset in Alexandria

From Alexandria we set of for the oasis at Siwa, very close to the Libyan border (that was a long bus ride). While here we did a few cool things like sand boarding (the same as snow boarding but on sand), swam in some thermal pools , visited the 'Mountain of the Dead' an ancient Roman burial site. The whole mountain is littered with human bones that have been scattered by animals, erosion and grave robbers (one of the girls on our tour fell down part of it and broke her ankle... ouch!!). We also visited the site of the famous oracle of Siwa (visited by Alexander the Great) and had dinner with a local Bedouin family. Most of this was done on the back of a push bike. Siwa is a bit more conservative and a little bit more rural than other parts of Egypt we'd seen. They ride a hell of a lot more donkeys and motorbikes with nearly all 4WD's belonging to tourist related companies. Women here aren't treated with as much respect as other parts of Egypt. Local women are expected to cover their entire faces with a shroud (not even showing their eyes) and some of the women on our tour would be completely ignored if they asked a question of a local man in a shop or the street.

View of the oasis at Siwa from Mountain of the Dead

Bike riding in the Siwa Oasis

Bike riding in the Siwa Oasis

From Siwa we jumped into some jeeps and 4WD'd through the desert for about 8 hours across the desert in a small convoy to reach Bahariya. We stayed one night there then set off again for the White Desert, but not before driving through the Black Desert. A really long and bumpy day, though we did catch one of the best sunsets we'd seen on any of our travels! The landscape was just so alien with all the rock formations and the sun was massive and glowing red!!

Amazing scenery in the Western Desert.

Watching sunset in the Western Desert

Sunset in the Western Desert.

This was pretty much the last activity on our itinerary and the next two days were spent getting back to Cairo. We finished up our tour by partying it up at a club our tour leader assured us was a really great place... it turned out to be a TGI Fridays!!! (our English friends should get that one) But finally having some western food after 3 weeks was heaven... plus they had a dance floor and alcohol which usually equals a party in anyone's language! It was sad to say goodbye to Mo (our tour leader) and all the great people we'd met on tour, but that's what travelling is all about!

After the tour Mo helped us organise transport and accommodation in Dahab on the Red Sea. We didn't do a lot that week... I'm pretty sure the most productive thing we managed to do was write out a bunch of postcards, read our books and work on our tans! One of our new friends from the tour was also in Dahab learning how to dive for the week so we ended up having dinner with him and his diving buddy/ies every night. which was great!

P.S. We also watched England get knocked out of the European cup... shame.

Chillin' in Dahab

Now it was time to head back to Cairo for one night and some last minute shopping before jetting off to Bangkok!

Classic Quotes & Cheeky Egyptians

I was greeted in Aswan by a 10 year old boy who was riding past me on a donkey. He said to me "Hello beautiful money"!! Cheeky git!

Another classic quote from the Bazaar's is "Let me help you spend your money"

Pretty much every other kid in Egypt (those familiar with tourists) knows that if you are cute enough you can usually get something out of them. If you weren't asked directly for money (Baksheesh), then the alternative usually went something like this "Hello. Hello. Hello pen? Hello pen? Hello. Hello pen?" Pen could also be easily interchanged with the word "Sweet". Come to think of it none of the kids ever asked for paper? I guess they had plenty :P

On a couple of occasions we came across the odd Egyptian who wasn't quite as genuine as we might have liked. Feel free to replace 'came across' with 'caught out'. On one occasion Jo and I were at a small 'corner-store' stocking up on some juice for our felucca trip. Jo, having learnt the Arabic writing for the numbers 1-10, worked out which cartons of juice would be the best value. However whilst paying, the guy behind the counter suddenly charged us twice the price we were expecting! This took us by surprise so we asked him if the price on the shelf was the right price? He says somewhat sheepishly "Oh, you read Arabic". DAMN STRAIGHT WE DO!!!
This was just in a supermarket!!! Always gotta watch your back!

This next one happened to one of the guys on our tour (Rey). Rey was approached by a small boy probably about 6-7 years old who asked him for money. When Rey refused, the boy asked if he'd buy him a coke instead (all in very broken English). To this Rey agreed and took the boy to a shop and bought him a coke. This particular coke was in a glass bottle with a normal bottle top. The boy didn't want one like this he wanted the big one with a plastic cap. However Rey said no bought him the glass bottle and had the shop owner pop the cap for him, when this happened the kid got really upset. Apparently he planned to sell the coke back to the shop owner after we'd gone at a fraction of the price... they certainly start them young in Egypt!